TANGLED ART + DISABILITYIN THUNDER BAY: JUNE 11–13, 2015

Tangled is happy to return to Thunder Bay for the second year in a row for our 2015-16 season! Last year, we were proud to present 3 days of programming; engaging people with visual art, film and performance and workshop. Special events included; artist talk with Tangled 2014 artist in resident, Janna Brown at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery and Geometry of the Circle, a playful duet combining dance and sound. Set design by Thunder Bay artist, Eugene Lefrancois and participants of the March of Dimes Warehouse Project.

A north-south dialogue on Disability Arts between Tangled and Thunder Bay. Includes 3 days of programming; engaging people with visual art, film and performance and workshop. Special events include; artist talk with Tangled 2014 artist in resident, Janna Brown at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery and Geometry of the Circle, a playful duet combining dance and sound. Set design by Thunder Bay artist, Eugene Lefrancois and participants of the March of Dimes Warehouse Project.

In collaboration with Ontario Arts Council (Northern Arts), Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Community Arts & Heritage Education Projects (CAHEP), Bay Street Film Festival, Peggy Baker Dance Projects and the active disability and artist communities of Thunder Bay. Thanks to the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Schedule of Activities

Still Echoes Resound by Janna Brown

Doors at 7:00pmArtist Talk at 7:30pmOpening reception at 8:30pmThrough September 6, 2015

Special Presentation by Bushra Junaid (Ontario Arts Council), Outreach and Development Manager, will present OAC’s new Deaf and Disability Arts Projects program.Co-presented by the Thunder Bay Art Gallery

“Still Echoes Resound” includes a collection of twelve miniature, mixed media, textile pieces rendered on leather and fragments of a childhood quilt. The work is reminiscent of body and landscape while maintaining an air of the ephemeral.

Transforming images of the embroidered tableaus into video, the artist uses a technique of overlay, repetition, and muted contrast. The film is a subtitled poem and audio narration – animating text out of layers of drawing and textile, which retreat and surface to the rhythm of words.The artist embroidered each day for a period of eight months—carrying the growing series on her person every day for this durational piece.

Multidisciplinary artist, writer, and educator, Janna Brown, explores concepts of time, body, trauma, and the unfolding of memory. In various mediums, she uses her body as an artifact—sharing tender confirmations from hollows of loss.Janna studied Literature (B.A., Mount Allison University); and Disability Studies (M.A. Critical Disability Studies), and, Visual Arts (Ontario College of Art and Design). She was the Tangled Art + Disability Artist in Residence for 2014.

OAC’S NEW DEAF AND DISABILITY ARTS PROJECTS PROGRAMOver the past few years, OAC (Ontario Arts Council) has undertaken several consultations with Deaf artists/arts professionals and artists/arts professionals with disabilities. They have talked to us about real and perceived barriers to our granting programs and services. As a result, OAC is working to implement the recommendations that can be addressed immediately and making plans for those that will take more time. Bushra Junaid, Outreach and Development Manager will present OAC’s new Deaf and Disability Arts Program. She will answer any questions you may have and discuss.

In 2009, Bushra Junaid was appointed OAC’s Outreach and Development Manager, and is responsible for improving access to programs, services and resources and building connections to artists from diverse communities. Bushra is passionately committed to equity, diversity and access to the arts and is excited about managing OAC’s new Deaf and Disability Arts Projects program.

FLUX: A Motion Workshop for Wheelchair Users and pedestrians in collaboration with Peggy Baker Dance Projects

SATURDAY JUNE 13, 12–2:30PMThunder Bay 55 Plus CentreFREE

FLUX: A Motion Workshop for Wheelchair Users and pedestrians in collaboration with Peggy Baker Dance Projects.

Flux: a spontaneous choreography celebrating the poetics of space.

A simple set of guidelines for walking and stopping set a group of people in motion, creating ever-evolving, constantly recalibrating, gloriously eventful group choreography. Led by Peggy Baker, Flux is a fun and fascinating adventure in action and interaction.

Flux is a free, no-experience-required workshop for pedestrians and wheelchair users of all ages who would like to participate in a group movement experience.

Why are we doing this?We are in the final stages of development of FluxDelux – an all-ages, all-abilities participatory performance.

Who are we?FluxDelux is choreographed by Peggy Baker.FluxDelux is powered by a smartphone app developed by Jacob Niedzwiecki.

Here are some comments from participants in past Flux workshops:

“Peggy made me, a non-dancer, feel like I could dance and made it safe and joyful to connect with a roomful of strangers through movement.”

“I loved how Peggy Baker’s very straightforward instructions allowed a wonderful improvisational flow of movement, expression, connections and communication through dance. I felt the structure of Flux inspired confidence and led to a sense of creative community, whether novice or experienced, dancing with wheels or legs.”

“I loved meeting and dancing with the participants. The structure was wonderful, and I enjoyed how the very simple instructions could be interpreted creatively, and then how each instruction was layered on top of the others. I really appreciated the warm, welcoming and open feeling of both the dancing and the discussion. I have found that the workshop inspired my creativity in many other aspects of my life.”

GEOMETRY OF THE CIRCLE + short filmsby filmmakers with disabilities

FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 7-9PMFinlandia ClubTicket $7

Short films by filmmakers with disabilities and duet performance Geometry of the Circle.Featuring set design by Eugene Lefrancois with participants of the March of Dimes Warehouse Project.In collaboration with Bay Street Film Festival, Peggy Baker Dance Projects (Dance) and March of Dimes.

A collection of short films made by filmmakers with disabilities from around the world. Highlights from the films include Word, Sound, Powah: Bant Singh (India) and video clips of the late Ahmed Hassan, an accomplished Egyptian-Canadian musician. Audiences will then be treated to a live duet performance of Geometry of the Circle; a dance piece originally performed by Hassan and wife/choreographer Peggy Baker. A re-staging of Geometry of the Circle will be performed by Mark Brose and Sahara Morimoto.

Within a circular garden of set pieces designed expressly for this performance by Thunder Bay artist Eugene Lafrancois, vocalist Mark Brose cruises in his wheelchair in pursuit of the object of his fascination; an exotic and excitable though shy and voiceless dancer, Sahara Morimoto. His language is sound, hers is movement, and Geometry of the Circle reveals the delightful and inventive ways they find of connecting.

Geometry of the Circle, Peggy Baker’s 1993 co-creation with the extraordinary composer and musician Ahmed Hassan, is a playful choreography that traces the courtship of a most unlikely couple. The remarkable performers are dancer Sahara Morimoto and musician Mark Brose.

Peggy Baker has been a vivid presence in contemporary dance for four decades, performing internationally with Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, The White Oak Dance Project, Doug Varone and Dancers, Tere O’Connor Dance, Molissa Fenley and Dancers (NYC); Fortier Danse-Creation (Montreal); Dancemakers and Toronto Dance Theatre. She established Peggy Baker Dance Projects in 1990, and for the first 20 years she dedicated herself to solo performance, winning rapturous praise for the eloquence and depth of her dancing, and accolades for her collaborative partnerships with extraordinary musicians and designers. Since 2010 her choreography has focused on works for small ensemble. Among her honours are the Walter Carsen Prize, the Governor General’s Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Order of Canada, five Dora Mavor Moore Awards, and Honorary Doctorates from the University of Calgary and York. Ms Baker is Artist-in-Residence at Canada’s National Ballet School.

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Sahara Morimoto is a graduate of Canada’s National Ballet School. She trained at Rotterdam Dance Academie, and studied Gaga, the movement language developed by Ohad Naharin, in Tel Aviv, Israel with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts’ Grants to Dance Professionals in 2014. Sahara has danced with Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre (formerly Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre), AKA Dance, inDANCE, Toronto Dance Theatre, and Human Body Expression. Sahara joined Peggy Baker Dance Projects as Artistic Associate in January 2008.

Mark Brose, a graduate of the Ontario College of Art, is a multi-disciplinary artist, performer and disability rights activist. After enjoying national success with jewellery/sculpture, Mark turned to new creative outlets due to developing multiple sclerosis. Subsequent explorations include dance and theatre Slipping Ground (Ffida), Anon and on (KickstART Festival), Oops! (Toronto Fringe festival), and short films. This year he exhibited his photography (Urban [eyes] – Strange Beauty) and celebrated his return to jewellery/sculpture (Attract/Connect – Strange Beauty).

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Tangled Art + Disability is boldly redefining how the world experiences art and those who create it. We are a not for profit art + disability organization dedicated to connecting professional and emerging artists, the arts community and a diverse public through creative passion and artistic excellence. Our mandate is to support disability-identified artists, to cultivate disability arts in Canada, and to enhance access to the arts for artists and audiences of all abilities.